Jones Boys Lately

He smells like pepper. Literal pepper, people. Those lovely teenage hormones have kicked in and even though he showers once a day, he still smells. I even bought him a (whole lotta) body spray and put a Bath & Body Works plugin in every one of my outlets. I know this phase will pass…but then I have 2 other boys and their hormones to deal with. Pretty soon I’ll be skipping the plugin and just sprinkling the oil directly on them.

The Ice Cream Man is making a killing off our street. Since the weather has been decent, the ice cream truck has been out and about. He started coming about 2 weeks ago and has come back every day. And set up camp in front of our house. Which, I’ve gotta hand it to him, is actually pretty smart. I don’t know (and don’t want to know) how much money they’ve spent on popsicles and ice cream bars, but I know that that guy will probably retire early.

Jackson

He got a SnapChat. In a moment of Mom Weakness, I let him set up a SnapChat account. We are those parents who teach their kids that social media is a privilege. And until you can prove yourself responsible, you cannot have a social media account. Unless you’re hilarious and then we’ll make exceptions. Jackson has been giving reviews of all his basketball shoes and he lip syncs in the mirror. He gets a SnapChat.

Homework Schmomwok. Jackson has always known there is only 1 rule with basketball: school comes first. No exceptions. Last week I discovered he had a book report coming due that he hadn’t started. He hadn’t even cracked open the book. And what’s better, he left the book at school, so he couldn’t start. We made him stay home from practice that night anyway, as a reminder that school always comes first. Huz made this meme and posted it to Instagram…he was pretty proud of himself.

Aidon

Friday night bummer. Last Friday he was supposed to have a friend come over and stay the night. He’d been looking forward to it all week. I’d sent my contact information for his friends mom on a Post It note and told her to give me a call if she had any questions. He’d come over a few times before, so I didn’t think it odd that I never heard from her. When Friday rolled around and I picked Aidon up from school, I asked if his friend was coming home with us. And he said no, that he’d have to get dropped off later, probably around 4pm. (Anytime a kid says “probably”, it almost always means they don’t know. It’s wishful thinking on their part.) So it came as no surprise when 4pm rolled around and no friend. Then it was 4:30. And then 5:00. I asked if Aidon had any contact information for his friend, so I could call his mom. But he didn’t. I even tried to email their teacher at school, it see if she’d be willing to send me a class roster, but she didn’t respond. With all our options exhausted, I told Aidon it wasn’t looking good. And for all I knew, his friend mom knew nothing about a sleepover. Who knows what and how kids communicate. Aidon immediately melted into tears, sobbing on the couch. He was so disappointed. I felt awful for him, but there wasn’t a lot I could do. So I did the best I could. I got him Panda Express takeout.